Not Alone, But Far Apart
by HayleeAndrews
Summary: A more realistic standpoint on the budding relationship between Daryl Dixon and Beth Greene.
1. Chapter 1

Daryl.

There ain't nothing sweet, or good, or pure about me. My old man never patted me on the back when I'd done a good job like the other kids I knew. I ain't never ate birthday cake on my birthday or kissed a virgin girl. Everything I ever had was second hand, stale, or broken; just like me. That's why I don't mind this new world. That's why I'm alive.

Most people I've met the last few years say the worst day of their lives was the day the virus went global, or the day the person they loved the most turned from living - to dead - to the undead. But not me. The worst day of my life was the day we lost the prison.

Before the world turned to shit, nobody ever cared much where I'd go, who I's with, when I'd come home, if I'd come home. I always did what I'd want. The first time anybody ever cared about me, ME as a real person, was in the prison. The first person to ever ask me what I thought, like I really knew something, was Hershel in one of our council meetings. That day I started living. That day I learned to respect and to be respected.

That's why the day my friends and I lost the prison to the walkers was the worst day of my life. For the first time, I knew what it was like to be depended on and to depend on. I fucked it up. I was supposed to protect them. They weren't like me; they had memories of birthday parties, clean sheets and being in love. I was supposed to keep their memories and optimism alive, but I failed them, the only people who ever needed me for anything.

The first few days after Hershel's murder are a little hazy. I only remember bits of time, almost like when Merle and I'd gone on these three or four day benders. Nothing really made sense when I opened my eyes. I felt like like hell, had the temper of a honey badger and sitting cross legged across the fire from me was Beth Greene.

She was the last person I wanted to see. I was glad Maggie and Glenn weren't there to look at me and see the failure smeared across my face. I wanted to wallow in my own grief. All I could think about was staying far away from her. All I wanted was to be alone. All I wanted was for everything to be the way it used to be. All I wanted was for everyone to be safe, to be alive. But what I wanted never mattered none. I'm just me.

I never thought of Beth as weak. Her emotions were ironclad, probably because she was so young when all the shit hit the fan. But losin' her dad was all over her face. You could see her pain in the way she held her shoulders, in the way she stared at me with angry tears in her eyes. I could feel her anger and disappointment seeping off of her, drifting across the coals that divided us, choking me with her invisible slimy hatred. I am the reason her dad and sister are dead. I am the reason we are the only ones left. I am the reason we'll never have a family again. I am an asshole.

The only chance at redemption I have left is to stay alive, so I can keep her alive. No matter how much I hate living.

Coming soon… Beth copes with being in such close proximity as the brooding redneck.


	2. Chapter 2

Beth.

I hated Daryl Dixon because he hated me. I hated that I had no other option than to follow him like a lost puppy and that he expected nothing from me, as if I really were a lost puppy. I hated having no one to talk to. I hated missing my dad, and Maggie, and Glenn. I hated that because of me Judith was dead. I hated feeling helpless. I hated being alive.

Daryl never talked much to me at the prison but if I thought that he was the quiet brooding type there I was discovering an entirely new side of him now. Silent as the grave would once have been an accurate depiction of his current mood, except in our new world the dead rise from their graves and they always announce their presence with indiscernible grunts. Daryl, I learned, could go days without making any sound.

I had to take out all of my frustrations on someone and the only living person within shouting distance was Daryl, so I took it all out on him.. When I was lonely I would throw rocks at him hoping he would get mad and look at me. Instead he continued to ignore me. When he would toss me a bottle of water so I wouldn't die of thirst, I would throw it back as hard as I could hitting him in the back or the neck. Even then he wouldn't react, just walk away like I didn't matter.

When hours of silence turned to days of silence, and I felt like my entire being would shatter like the fragile glass I had become, I decided it was time for me to strike out on my own. Daryl only kept me around because I was a stupid kid that couldn't take care of myself. He didn't want me. Hell I didn't even want me. I had no one that needed me and no where to be, so finding my own way seemed like my best logical option.

I grabbed the knife Daryl had given me, a bottle of water and started off on my own through the woods. I didn't know where I was going. I didn't care. I just didn't want to spend one more minute with that stupid redneck. I picked my way through the woods for several minutes when I heard a branch snap behind me. I quickly unsheathed the knife from my boot and whipped around thinking I was being stalked by a walker. However, to my dismay there was Daryl; crossbow in hand, lugging his pack full of the goods he'd collected since we left the confines of the prison.

We made eye contact and I glared at him, hoping he knew how much I hated him. I turned around and started running. I didn't care if I was making enough noise to wake the dead. The dead were awake anyways and there was nothing I could do to change that.

I turned around to see if Daryl was still following me and sure enough there he was, not far behind, making hardly any noise. How could he run loaded down with gear, without making a single sound?

Annoyed, I ran faster.

He was undeterred. The faster I ran the faster he ran. When I finally had to stop for breath, Daryl came to halt next to me. I had to grasp my knees trying to control my breathing. Daryl looked like he hardly broke a sweat. What was wrong with him? We were in the middle of a Georgia summer for Christ's sake.

"Leave me alone Daryl." I demanded, through clenched teeth. I tried not imagining how good it would feel to pummel him with my fists.

"I don't know where you're going blondie, but where you go, I go." This was the most Daryl had said to me in an entire week. Ten minutes ago all I wanted was him to say something, but now that he finally had it just made me more angry. Being a girl could be so confusing.

"I don't want you to follow me! I want you to leave me alone!" I screamed as loud as I could.

"If you keep yelling like a spoiled brat you're gonna get us both killed!" Daryl yelled back.

"Is that what you think of me? That I'm spoiled brat? Is that why you hate me so much? Because I don't know what the hell I ever did to you to make you hate me so bad that you don't even have the common courtesy to speak to me!" Yelling felt so good. The last time I yelled like this Maggie had caught me trying out her new lipstick. The next day Willie Terrell got bit. He was the first one from our town that woke from the dead. Since then I spent most of my time trying to be quiet and stay hidden. Now I didn't care who heard me. I wanted everyone to know that right now, right this minute, I Elizabeth Greene was very much alive.

"Beth, you better shut up unless you want every walker in the state of Georgia to come at you like hogs to the feeding trough." Daryl spoke through gritted teeth. For the first time it looked like he would lose his cool. His breathing became heavier and eyes looked darker. I took way too much pleasure in knowing that I was finally cracking the unbreakable Daryl Dixon.

Coming soon… For the first time in his life, Daryl befriends a teenage girl.


End file.
